From the Beer Writer: Though nearly a year ago, I remember it like it was yesterday, walking onto the grounds of the Ensenada Beer Fest and seeing San Diego-based breweries sharing space with Baja craft operations. It was beautiful to behold and even more lovely to experience from a taste perspective. As I sampled through the beers, I was alerted to a rather impressive bit of news. Winners of the fest’s brewing-competition component had been announced and the top dog in the Mexican-style Lager category was none other than North San Diego County’s Mason Ale Works, which was celebrating the launch of Respeto, its entry into that category that very weekend. Nailing a region’s most popular style in that region on the first try…talk about a fantastic coming-out party. As this year’s Ensenada Beer Fest rolls back around (it will take place March 22 and 23, and is an epic event worth traveling for), this seemed a remarkable feat worth revisiting, especially as Mason shifts its packaging for this beer to 16-ounce cans and now offers specialty glassware just for this award-winner at its parent company’s (3 Local Brothers) family of Urge Gastropub restaurants.
From the Brewer: “As the Ensenada Beer Fest approaches, we are proud to have received gold last year and to participate in it again this year with Respeto, our Mexican-style lager. Respeto is a clean and refreshing lager that clocks in at 4.5% (alcohol-by-volume). Its well-balanced profile comes from a base of pilsner and Vienna malt with a unique hop presence from the use of Mt. Hood hops. Originally brewed as an experimental batch at our R&D brewery in Oceanside, this beer immediately demanded ‘mas respeto.’ Therefore, we now have proper horizontal lagering tanks to support its growing demand, which includes four states and two countries. And more if you include where the brewers take it on vacation. In a world of absurd adjuncts, palate wreckers and murk monsters, this flagship offering from Mason Ale Works forges a path, demands respect and proves that sometimes less is more. After one sip it will be justified and have you asking “donde esta la cerveceria?‘“—Ben “Shaggy” Blaney, Director of Brewery Operations, Mason Ale Works